Coast Guard seizes 800 pounds of marijuana near Fort Lauderdale

The Coast Guard seized almost 800 pounds of marijuana around midnight Saturday from a 20-foot vessel traveling west from Bimini, Bahamas, according to a press release.

After receiving reports of a suspicious vessel, crewmembers from the Coast Guard Cutter Diamondback located and boarded the craft to conduct an safety inspection. The marijuana was discovered in plain sight.

Crewmembers detained two suspected smugglers from the vessel, and they offloaded 47 bricks of marijuana with an estimated street value of $725,000 at Coast Guard Station Fort Lauderdale.

The suspects were transferred to U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, and the drugs and vessel were transferred to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Patrol officers in Fort Lauderdale.